Space News & Blog Articles

Scientists have long understood that Earth's geological evolution is influenced by extraterrestrial factors. This includes the distribution of water, volatiles, and minerals from asteroids and comets within the Solar System, precious metals from nearby supernovae, and perturbances from passing stars. Basically, galactic events over the past few billion years have left their mark on Earth. According to new research from Curtin University, the structural evolution of the Milky Way galaxy also had an effect on the evolution of Earth's crust, as evidenced by ancient crystals beneath the surface.

Let’s say you’ve picked the perfect spot for building a settlement on Mars. But this opens up some pretty nasty questions. Building…what? And building….with what? There are no trees to chop down to construct temporary structures. There are no campfires you can build to keep warm while you start. There’s no…I don’t know…WILD GAME to hunt to feed yourself.

On May 21st, 2010, the Akatsuki orbiter ("Dawn" in Japanese) launched from the Tanegashima Space Center atop a H-IIA Launch Vehicle, establishing orbit around Venus in December 2015. In so doing, Akatsuki became the first interplanetary mission launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). For the past eight years, this mission has been continuously monitoring Venus' atmosphere to monitor its weather patterns using four types of instruments: an ultraviolet and infrared cameras, a high-speed imager, a radio science suite, and an ultra-stable oscillator.

Let’s say you’re in charge of a Mars mission. Okay boss, where do we land? The total surface area of Mars is roughly equal to the land area of the Earth. Nobody’s ever built a settlement there (heck, nobody’s even GONE there). It’s free and wild and open territory. Yeah there might be some legal issues surrounding international laws and outer space treaties, but we’ll let the folks back home deal with that. You’re in charge, and you have to pick a spot to plant down roots.

Asteroid 2024 YR4 caused quite a stir last year when it was discovered and originally calculated to have a 3% chance of hitting Earth. Since then models have been refined and while it no longer has a chance of hitting Earth, it does have a 4% chance of hitting the Moon in December 2032. As that time gets closer, we’ll have a better idea of the probability, but engineers and scientists are also planning for what we would need to do in order to ensure it doesn’t hit our only natural satellite at all. A new paper from NASA and a bunch of other researchers details potential missions and timelines that could make sure the Moon isn’t pummeled with a decent-sized asteroid in less than a decade.

The Hubble Space Telescope is still working hard despite its age. Its UV observing capabilities make it particularly well suited to studying white dwarfs. The telescope has observed a particular white dwarf on two separate occasions over the years, as it has with dozens of white dwarfs. But this particular white dwarf, named WD 1647+375 and about 260 light years away, has shown astronomers something unusual.